You may know all too well how quickly the cost of electricity, natural gas, water usage, and trash/recycling services can add up. This may be on top of your separate Internet, cable, and phone bills. If you are already struggling financially, you may neglect paying these monthly bills and cover your priority debts instead, like your monthly mortgage payment. However, if this goes on for too long, and there is a potential bankruptcy filing hanging in the balance, you may fear that you took advantage for too long, and your utility services will cease as a consequence. Well, for this, please follow along to find out whether your utilities will be shut off and how a proficient Rockland County bankruptcy attorney at The Law Offices of Allen A. Kolber, Esq., P.C., can help you maintain access to them during this time.
Is it possible for my utilities to be shut off during my bankruptcy?
Initially, submitting a bankruptcy petition may protect your utilities from being shut off. This is thanks to the automatic stay, a court order that stops your creditors, including your utility companies, from pursuing collection activities against you, such as shutting off your service.
But if you know your utility services are days away from being cut off, you may decide to declare emergency bankruptcy. With this, you may only have to prepare your initial petition and a few other forms, and then submit the rest of the paperwork within a 14-day window.
Importantly, though, this protection by an automatic stay may only be granted for up to 20 days from your initial filing date, likely regardless of whether you file for emergency or standard bankruptcy. From here, you must take affirmative action to keep your utilities on.
Specifically, it is in your best interest to provide your utility companies with adequate assurance that you will remain up to date on your monthly bills from this point forward. Such adequate assurance may be executed by putting down a security deposit, submitting a letter of credit, using a certificate of deposit, or paying with a surety bond.
How do I handle my utility bills during my bankruptcy proceedings?
In Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings, you may not have to worry about your past-due utility bills. However, to reemphasize, you must continue to uphold your responsibility to keep current with the utility bills you are sent throughout your case. Then, at your case’s close, if you have executed everything else successfully, your past-due utility bills may be granted a discharge.
As for Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings, you may incorporate a plan to pay off your past-due utility bills in your court-approved, three- to five-year repayment schedule. Again, at this time, you must also pay off any new utility bills that come in after your filing date.
The first step toward preparing yourself for this legal action is to retain the services of a talented Rockland County bankruptcy attorney. Look no further than The Law Offices of Allen A. Kolber, Esq., P.C.
